A Stubborn Soul

    Such a stubborn little soul…
    That was Mother's thought as she continued her work. The soul she was crafting into one of her children, her Wisps, was one of those stubbornly rooted ones. They always had such a high resilience, which she admired. This one was even resistant to a Jester… an impressive soul indeed.
    In the end, the fate of this soul would have been to fade, had she not taken it as one of her own. She had taken it and crafted it, rubbing away the old as best she could so a new life could take place. The stubborn nature of the soul made it hard, with it having some root that kept the old life from fading away. After a while, however, she reached the root of her trouble, and it hadn't taken long to fade it away.
    Now, all that was left was to shape it, and to make sure the old wouldn't return. It was tricky to get it right, and so far she had had mixed success. Many of her self-made wisps would have relapses, where the old threatened to resurface. Some of them remembered, and it drove them mad. Sometimes she outright failed to make them new, and the result... She didn't like the result. Her failed attempts were either destroyed or harnessed. She had to destroy some of the remembering wisps; they threatened her and her children. Not all of them went mad…
    The soul stirred as she worked. It was going to wake up.
    "Shhhhhh..." She coaxed, trying to keep it from waking. That would surely be disastrous. She rubbed its head and took on a gentle, soothing tone. "Shhhhhhhh, it's okay... Go back to sleep, my child... It's okay..."
    Eventually, the soul stopped stirring, and she relaxed. She left for a moment to relax and rest. Shaping souls was taxing.
    She thought about how the soul had come to arrive here. The effort it had taken to finally subdue it was almost pitiful. She had sent so many of her children for nothing. The body wouldn’t even do for a host, not even a temporary one, tempting as it could be.
    The moment passed, and she returned to finish her work. It didn't take long for her to shape the soul into a new form. It almost surprised her how easy souls were to shape once the old was gone... As she finished, she smiled. Perhaps she'd have better luck with this one than some of her other attempts…
    She waited a moment, no longer trying to keep the soul asleep. After a moment of waiting, the wisp blinked awake slowly, drifting up unsteadily and looking over at the looming form of Mother. She smiled softly at the wisp, trying not to intimidate it.
    "Hello, my child." She smiled at the wisp and bent closer to it.
    "Who are you...?" The wisp said, confused.
    "I am Mother."
    "Mother...?"
    "Yes. I am the one who shall care for you, you and the other wisps, your brothers and sisters."
    "Wisps...?"
    "Yes, the others that are like you. I have taken you all under my care, and I wish to do the same to others."
    The wisp stared at Mother for a moment, confused, curious, and somewhat fearful. After a moment, though, it drifted over to Mother’s side and followed her as she walked out.
    “Do you have a name that you would like to be called, my child?”
    The wisp looked up at her before looking away, thinking.
    “Uhhmmmm… no...”
    Mother smiled secretly before the wisp turned back to face her. When he did, it was to a gentler, kinder smile and an inviting look.
    “How about Imperium…?”
    The wisp stared for a moment before nodding at Mother. Her smile got slightly bigger.
    “Of course, we can always call you Peri for short. Is that fine?”
    “...Yes, Mother.”
    They went out of the room they had drifted into, Mother smiling a pleased smile.
    Yes… she may have more success with this wisp after all.